After back-to-back wins over the lowly Charlotte Hornets, the Milwaukee Bucks are back in action less than 24 hours later as they take on division rivals Chicago Bulls. They lead the regular season series 2-1 and come into tonight’s game only as 3.5 point favorites. Normally I would shy away from backing a team that’s playing on a 2nd night of a back-to-back, but the Bucks have been a serious team since the All-Star break, especially on the defensive end where they’ve held their 3 of 4 opponents under 100 points. That type of effort has resulted in a 4-0 SU record in those 4 games, I am really liking their chances against a somewhat limited team in Chicago here. Playing on no rest hasn’t been a problem at all for this team – they are 7-3 SU in those games, with notable wins over the Pelicans, Kings, Rockets, Mavericks and Heat.
Chicago comes into this one after a physically draining double OT win over the Cleveland Cavaliers two nights ago. It was a much needed win for a team that’s currently occupying the 9th seed in the East and looking to move up in the standings. That will be difficult to do as the 8th seed is 5 games away, so Chicago is most likely going to end up in the play-in tournament for the 2nd successive season. I’ve mentioned the limitations of this team earlier, they could be even more limited here as Alex Caruso finds himself on the injury report with a hamstring issue which could keep him out. Three-point shooting is a big problem for this team, just 2 games ago they had a loss to Detroit in which they converted on just 2 three-point shot attempts.
